Help for English Students

Interpreting Hamlet

In Module B it is important for students to develop their own interpretations of the text. This means wide reading (and viewing). But it’s not good enough to read a few critics and parrot their ideas in your responses. You need to use your reading to test your own ideas and develop a personal reading of the play. This will lead to well thought out essays that address the central question of this module: why is play that was penned four hundred years ago in a faraway country still so relevant? Here are some readings and questions to get you started.

Lewis argues that audiences (especially critics) focus too much on psycho-analysing the character of Hamlet and not enough on appreciating the play as a whole. Also, that people tend to read the character as a reflection of themselves. Is it natural for an audience to empathise with a character? What is it about Hamlet as a character that evokes your sympathy? Are there elements of the play that you’ve been ignoring? What are they and how do they add to the experience of the text as a whole?

This is a bit of a controversial one: Eliot argues that Hamlet is a bad play; that it fails as a work of literature. His argument is a bit complex but as its core, Eliot says that Hamlet overreacts to the situation with which he is faced, thereby destroying any credibility in the character or the play. How might Eliot’s own context have influenced his view? How does your context and life experience shape your enjoyment of the play?

Bradley argues that the cause of Hamlet’s delay (one of the central questions of this text) is not external difficulties but an internal drive to achieve justice. Many critics focus on this aspect of the play, perhaps because Hamlet himself agonises over it so much in his soliloquies. Here are some other causes to consider as you come to your own conclusions (don’t feel constrained to pick just one; it’s a complex play):

Religious conflict: Hamlet might be a protestant, which makes accepting some of the ghost’s story difficult; it also constrains him from actions such as revenge and suicide – Stephen Greenblatt

Oedipus complex: I hesitate to put this one in because I personally think it’s rubbish but you’re going to come across it so you might as well consider it – Sigmund Freud and just about every stage and film director of the play from 1920 to 2001

Identity crisis: Hamlet struggles between his identity as a Renaissance man and his duty as a Medieval son to take revenge, it is only once this crisis is resolved that Hamlet can act – Stanley Wells

Indecision: pure and simple – Laurence Olivier

Extreme self-awareness: Hamlet fears that in killing Claudius, he will become like him – Kenneth Brannagh (implied visually in the 1996 film)

Surveillance: Hamlet is being watched constantly and must throw the court off the scent before he can act – Gregory Doran and Michael Almereyda (implied visually in the 2001 and 2009 films respectively)

As you consider Hamlet, consider this: it is fundamentally an existential play in that it deals with question of human existence.